1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnet catch that holds a door of furniture to a furniture body by the attraction of the magnet.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Furniture that employs a magnet catch to enable the front opening of a furniture body to be closed and opened by a door has a structure in which an iron piece is attached to the inner side of the door at an end thereof and a magnet catch is attached to the inner side of the front opening section of the furniture body so that when the door is closed the iron piece approaches the magnet catch and is attracted by it to hold the door closed. This structure has the following drawback. Depending on the position of the magnet catch on the furniture body, a gap between the magnet catch and the iron piece may change. When, for instance, the gap is large, the attraction between them will not be strong enough to keep the door closed. And when the magnet catch projects forward too much from the furniture body, the door cannot completely close the front opening of the furniture body.
To solve this problem, as described in the Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 6927/1980, a magnet catch has been proposed in which a magnet assembly is made movable back and forth with respect to a case of the magnet catch to adjust an attraction gap between the magnet assembly and an iron piece on a door.
In detail this magnet catch has the following structure. The magnet assembly is installed in the case from one side of the case and is made movable back and forth in the case. The magnet assembly has a slot perpendicular to a direction in which the assembly moves. An adjust spindle is rotatably supported on the case. Inserted in the slot of the magnet assembly is an eccentric shaft section that rotates at a position off the rotating center of the adjust spindle. As the adjust spindle is turned for adjustment, the eccentric shaft section of the adjust spindle moves through the slot of the magnet assembly, advancing or retracting the magnet assembly in the case thereby adjusting the position of the magnet assembly relative to the iron piece.
The magnet assembly of the magnet catch is subjected to a pressing force caused by the iron piece of the closing door striking the assembly. The magnet assembly also is subjected to a pulling force when the iron piece of the opening door parts from it.
With the above-mentioned conventional structure, when an external force is applied to the magnet assembly during the opening and closing action of the door, the adjust spindle is easily rotated causing the magnet assembly to move with respect to the case. To prevent this, the conventional magnet catch has made the rotating contact surface between the adjust spindle and the case a frictional surface. If the friction is large, the rotation of the adjust spindle becomes difficult. However, a small friction cannot prevent the adjust spindle from being easily rotated by the external force.